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Kilkenny delegates at Dáil na n"g
FIVE local youths represented Kilkenny at this year's annual Dáil na n"g conference held in Dublin recently. Chloë Hitchcock, Eibhlin Corrigan, Jo O'Brien, Laura Lennon and Jan Anderson were voted by Kilkenny's Youth Forum, 'Voice 4 Youth' to attend the event which is hosted by For"ige, Youth Work Ireland and the Minister for Children's Office.
The delegates discussed two main topics; Educational Reform and Mental Health for Young People and were then given the opportunity to put questions to Children’s Minister Brendan Smith.
“There was a lot of discussion on the day about issues affecting young people however it was during the questions and answers session that the real voice of the youth of Ireland was heard”, says Chlo Hitchcock, chairwoman of the Kil-kenny group. “Dele-gates were very unhappy that Brendan Smith could not stay long enough to answer many questions or to listen to what we had to say”.
The Kilkenny group was also disappointed that the issue of the Leaving Certificate points system was addressed again this year as a key issue when this had already been a major topic for discussion at Dil na ng a number of years previously.
“I wanted a commitment from the panel and politicians present that Dil na ng was not just a tokenistic exercise by politicians to say they listened to the voice of young people but then abandon our views”, says Chlo. “I feel it is ridiculous that the same motions are being passed nearly four years after I started in Voice 4 Youth. Imagine the amount of change that could have taken place for young people across Ireland in that length of time”?
Chlo Hitchcock’s address on this issue at the conference was echoed by her peers who went on to support her views and demand change. Kilkenny’s Voice 4 Youth now hope that the Dil na ng Advisory Council voted in on the day will be given more power to make change on the outcome of the conference.
Voice 4 You[th] is a youth forum set up “to speak, to listen and to make a difference”. It is facilitated by Ossory Youth and meets at least once a week to work on projects in youth space ‘The Workhouse’ at Desart Hall, New Street, Kilkenny. They also organise and run Kilkenny’s annual Comhairle Na Ng and are currently in the process of establishing a fully resourced youth council for Kilkenny, the first in the South of Ireland.
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Weather for Kilkenny
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Heavy rain
Temperature: 3 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
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